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Topic: Fuel duty freeze (Read 5694 times)

...Appears to be the Maybot's latest wheeze to convince the great British public that she really cares about us normal hard-working plebs families. I've seen figures suggesting that this will cost the treasury ~38 billion over the next three years; is there anyone actively campaigning against the freeze? (Greenpeace?)

But. Anyone got an idea what the price would be today if the freeze hadn't been for the last few years.

No agenda, just wondering.

And cba to work it out for myself.

The average price of a litre of unleaded last week was 131p, so that works out at just over 51p before duty and VAT. Osborne scrapped a planned 4p rise on duty from 58.95p/litre to 62.95p/litre (a 6.7% increase) and cut a penny instead, which is where it's been ever since.

<plays with Excel for a few minutes>

If we assume that Osborne went ahead with the 4p rise in 2011 and duty had gone up by 4p a year thereafter, fuel duty would have risen to 90.95p/litre this year, giving a forecourt price of around 170p/litre.

If duty had gone up by a similar percentage each year after the planned rise in 2011, you'd be looking at around 175-182p/litre.

ETA - had the escalator been kept after 1999, with an inflation+6% rise each year:

Earlier this year (or might have been end of last year) Brent Crude was around $50 it's now in excess of $80. For those of us working in companies supplying the oil and gas market, this is a good thing. At the beginning of the year our order book was 1/3 of what it is today and our products take six months to manufacture so we have hardly invoiced this year. Next year should be better and I can rely on keeping my job for another year or so.

I cheer when the petrol station sells me petrol at 130p. I know others don't but ying and yang and all that.

Although as highlighted above, tax is tax, as long as the VAT on it is covering the freeze it's a moot point. It all goes into a big chamber under the house of commons.

Fuel is so cheap that people can sit there, going nowhere, and not feel the need to switch their engine off. Of course, the costs of that kind of behaviour to everyone else are high.

I think that's because people who are mostly using their car for bicycle journeys don't really associate use of the engine with having to fill the tank once an n; cars just get hungry and need feeding some Expensive Car Food occasionally.

Every time I see some cunt sitting with their engine idling in Tesco’s car park or at a level crossing, I have to resist the urge to knock on their window and ask if fuel isn’t expensive enough for them.

... cars just get hungry and need feeding some Expensive Car Food occasionally.

For me, a sign of how wealthy people are is when they tank themselves up with Starbucks/Costa/Café Nero coffee at around £9 per litre. Petrol, on the other hand, is less than a sixth of the price at around £1.33 per litre.

Yes, I don't really understand that, either. I mean, sometimes you accept overpriced coffee as the cost of somewhere warm to sit with loos and WiFi, but getting a takeaway Costabucks on every commute seems like bad planning.

I work in an office that has its own professional piece of coffee making kit, and still people walk in the door every morning clutching (yet) a(nother) cardboard cup of unbelievably expensive coffee from one of the chains.

... cars just get hungry and need feeding some Expensive Car Food occasionally.

For me, a sign of how wealthy people are is when they tank themselves up with Starbucks/Costa/Café Nero coffee at around £9 per litre. Petrol, on the other hand, is less than a sixth of the price at around £1.33 per litre.

Yes, I don't really understand that, either. I mean, sometimes you accept overpriced coffee as the cost of somewhere warm to sit with loos and WiFi, but getting a takeaway Costabucks on every commute seems like bad planning.

To be fair, it's a lazy convenience, it's nice to have a hot coffee handed to me before I get on the train. That said, I'll use the machine on the mothership. It's not the greatest coffee ever but it's wet, caffeinated, drinkable, and free. Silly price, of course.

That said, fuel will be expensive when it costs more than coffee and beer.

Further off-topic, there's a Costa drive through opened near us. Holding a piping hot drink whilst negotiating the large double roundabout next to said drive through really encourages keeping both hands on the wheel and concentrating on the road ahead at all times.

I refuse to use it but presumably you hand your re-usable cup through window 1, get it passed back at window 2 from where you are encouraged to park in the car park and enjoy your coffee whilst listening to Popmaster?